Taking a Look at Botulism

Food boune botulism takes place when you eat food containing the toxin and it disrupts nerve function, causing paralysis. The source of the food-borne botulism is often by foods that were canned or preserved at home. Many people pick fruits and vegetables from the garden in the summer months and jarred them so they can eat them during the winter months. These foods

Clostridium difficile is a gram positive, spore forming anaerobic bacillus, which may or may not carry the genes for toxin A-B production (Nipa, 2010). These two types of protein exotoxins produced by the Clostridium difficile bacillus, toxin A and toxin B, can have an infectious form and a non-active, non-infectious form (Grossman, 2010). The infectious form can survive for a short duration of time in the environment. The spores can survive for a longer period of time in the environment and are not infectious unless and until they are ingested or are transformed into an infectious state (Nipa, 2010).

In this experiment, the primary antibodies against DAT were generated from the species Rattus norvegicus (the lab rat). The secondary antibodies (Chicken Anti-RatDAT) synthesized against Rat Anti-DAT, were generated from Gallus gallus domesticus (chickens). The Chicken Anti-RatDAT antibodies were synthesized by injecting certain purified rat antibodies into a chicken. As a result, a generation of the monoclonal antibodies Rat Anti-DAT, was essential to detect the DAT segment of the protein. Likewise, the polyclonal antibody Chicken Anti-RatDAT, linkage to the Fc portion of Rat Anti-DAT. Secondary antibodies are known to assist in the sorting, detection, and/or purification of target antigens by attaching to a primary antibody, that directly attaches to the target antigen.

There were several steps used to acquire the colony necessary for the PCR. First a student forearm was swabbed using a cotton swab, the cells were then placed in an agar plate. DNA was then extracted from the cultured bacteria by using a technique to lyse the cells and solubilize the DNA, then enzymes were used to remove contaminating proteins. The DNA extraction consisted of a lysis buffer that contained high concentrations of salt for denaturing. Binding with the use of ethanol and a washing step to purify the DNA. The final step for the DNA extraction was elution where the pure DNA was release. Proceeding the extraction of DNA the results of the 16s gene amplification were examined through gel electrophoresis it was analyzed by estimating the size of the PCR bands with marker bands. After measuring the success of the extraction, a technique called TA cloning was started. Cloning of PCR products was done by using partially purified amplified products with

The predicted antigenic regions were chimerically expressed in a bacterial system. Briefly, two sets of PCR primers were designed according to gD gene sequence available in GenBank (accession number: NC_001847) to amplify gene fragments encoding aa 20-160 (nucleotide 118953～119375, Δ gD1) and aa 257-344 (nucleotide 119664～119927, Δ gD2), respectively. The primers sequences for amplification of Δ gD1(P1 and P2) and Δ gD2 (P3 and P4) were listed in Table. 1.

The LD-50 of BoNT is 1.3–2.1 ng/kg intravenously or intramuscularly and 10–13 ng/kg when inhaled. Unlike tetanus, botulism causes flaccid paralysis in the entire body. If left untreated, it can cause paralysis of respiratory muscles, arms, legs, and trunk. Despite its toxicity, botulinum toxin is frequently used to treat human neurological diseases. These toxins have three domains, the light chain (LC), the heavy chain translocation (HCT), and the heavy chain receptor binding domain (HCR). The HCR is the C-terminus of the protein which binds to the gangliosides of neuronal cells. I was working with the botulinum serotype-A C-terminus (HCR/A). Rabbits were infected with HCR/A. Their blood was collected for the antibodies to the HCR. The antibody for HCR/A also detects HCR/T but at a lesser

Organ samples were collected and stored in 10% formalin, and then submitted for immunohistochemical analysis (Garigliany). Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) is a method used for detecting antigens such as proteins in cells of a tissue section (Vara). Two types of antibodies, monoclonal and polyclonal, were used to detect specific antigens. A commercial mouse monoclonal anti-parvovirus antibody and a polyclonal rabbit anti-human 〖p27〗^Kip1 antibody were used as primary antibodies while goat anti-mouse or goat anti-rabbit serum was used as the secondary antibody (Garigliany). The binding of these antibodies to the antigen was observed using the peroxidase anti-peroxidase method. Diaminobenzidine was also used as the chromogen and sections were counterstained with Mayer hematoxylin (Garigliany). Cerebellar sections of an FPV infected cats with underdeveloped cerebellum were used as the positive control for the anti-parvovirus immunochemistry while sections of a fetal cerebellum were used as the positive control for the anti-〖p27〗^Kip1 immunochemistry

Tissue sample presented with large population of B cells, labelled with CD20, in follicles and macrophages labelled with CD68 were also visible in the intrafollicular zone, both are indicative of a humoral immune response.

The superRLuc8-scFv probe was designed for detection of human CD4+ cells. Therefore, in order to investigate this ability, CD4+ cells were isolated from human whole blood. For this purpose, peripheral blood was collected in sterile heparinized containers from healthy adult volunteers. All volunteers gave informed written consent, and the studies were approved by the local ethics committee. All blood samples were taken by trained proficients in the healthcare center of the University of Isfahan. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) which containing CD4-expressing cells were isolated from human blood samples using ficoll density gradient. The isolated cells were harvested, washed and diluted with PBS, and then analyzed by inverted biological

It has been proclaimed “the greatest single natural disaster in history” (McCouat). Ravaging in Europe in 1347 to 1351, the Black Death killed around 30% of the population (Jordan). It was, and remains, one of the most memorable tragedies in European history. Naturally, big tragedies bring big consequences. In the case of the plague, there were three most important effects related to it. Those are consisted of the complete dismantlement of the feudal system, advancements in the medical field, and expression of faith through artwork.

Clostridium botulinum has a rich history dating back to 19th century Europe where it first contaminated sausages, causing outbreaks of foodborne botulism. (1-3) In fact, the term botulism is derived from the Latin term botulus, meaning sausage. (1,3) Microbiologist Emile Pierre Marie van Ermengem first described the etiologic agent in 1897, (1-3) following isolation of the anaerobic bacillus from ham and splenic tissue obtained upon autopsy. (2,3) Although first referred to as Bacillus botulinus, it was eventually renamed Clostridium botulinum to distinguish it from the aerobic spore-forming genus Bacillus. (2) Importantly, the presence of a toxin was noted at this time, as cell-free extracts were capable of causing disease. (1,2)

A second toxin that is significant in human infection is the gamma- toxin (also called leukotoxin) which

An in-silico study used immunoinformatic approach to find the heights antigenic MERS-COV protein, found that N protein pose the highest antigenic score and vaccine against the N protien can elicit both neutralizing antibody and cellular immunity against MERS-COV infection while vaccine against the S protein of MERS-COV can elicit only a neutralizing antibody, the study mapped T-cell epitopes, B-cell epitopes and CTLs epitopes to N protein to find putative epitope vaccine candidates. B-cell epitope was excluded due it's lower

Botulin Intoxication is a very severe contamination that transmits through food, touch with contaminated soil, or via an open wound. Botulism Intoxication can affect the Muscular System and Nervous System. Clostridium botulinum is a global bacterium that inhabits rivers, soil, and the center of mammals, fish, and shellfish. Clostridium botulinum secretes a neurotoxin which could weaken or paralyze muscle tissues and might even cause loss of life. Botulism is the condition of getting poisoned with the Clostridium botulinum toxin. Foodborne botulism happens when meals infected with the toxin has been eaten. The bacteria is useless, however the toxin stays. Outbreaks from

The major use of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is to titrate antibodies against specific antigens (Crowther, 1995). This method involves an enzyme, which reacts with a colourless substrate to form a coloured product, is covalently linked to a specific antibody that recognises a specific antigen. If the antigen is present, the antibody-enzyme complex will bind to it, and the enzyme component of the antibody-enzyme complex will catalyse the reaction which results in a coloured product (Berg et al, 2002). The presence of the coloured product indicates that an antigen is present. The ELISA, which is rapid and convenient, can detect less than a nanogram (10-9 g) of a protein and can be performed with either polyclonal antibodies, which are antibodies that can recognise multiple epitopes on any one antigen or monoclonal antibodies, which are antibodies that can only detect one epitope on the antigen (Guo et al, 2006). However, the use of monoclonal antibodies gives more reliable and accurate results due to their specificity as monoclonal antibodies are very effective at acting as the primary antibody in an assay, or for detecting antigens within a tissue. Also, they will usually result in reduced background staining compared to that of polyclonal antibodies.